"As the crow flies"—a popular and picturesque expression to denote a straight line. - William Henry Maule

My lords, we are vertebrate animals, we are mammalia! My learned friend's manner would be intolerable in Almighty God to a black beetle.

In the eye of the law no doubt, man and wife are for many purposes one: but that is a strong figurative expression, and cannot be so dealt with as that all the consequences must follow which would result from its being literally true.

Common sense still lingers in Westminster Hall.